


Reconcile

by kimilers



Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 05:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9642593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimilers/pseuds/kimilers
Summary: An Ain/Elsword one shot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ain job class - Apostasia  
> Elsword job class - Does not matter much, but was written with Lord Knight in mind.

Long gone were the days of fighting simple nasods. The demons were so much more frightening by comparison. Nasods would have some logical or tactical means to their own method, having fought in war years before, but this was something entirely different.

 

Demons were born to fight. Demons were born to kill. Demons didn’t just ‘get into’ wars, demons lived for them. The greatest blessing of all to them would have been getting into a world like this where they could continue their horrific rampage.

 

It was exhausting, but Elsword felt it was his duty to protect the people from them. Not everyone could fight like him. Many of them couldn’t fight at all. If the strong never rose up to defend those in need, how could humanity have any chance against them?

 

Luckily, he had great friends that helped him. Sure, some of them were stranger than other people, but they all carried good hearts. They were willing to help him protect others no matter the threat. This alone would hold Elsword in his troubled times.

 

Even…the troubled times…

 

Elsword found himself quickly overwhelmed by the mobs of demons. While none of them were entirely powerful alone, there was strength in numbers. Elsword could hold down to a certain limit, but this was certainly it for him.

 

The demons kicked him around the ground like a rock. He tried to get up to fight back, but another demon would quickly make their way with their own form of abuse in his direction.

 

Suffering. It was suffering. The demons had no interest in a quick kill, which could have been easily done with these numbers.  No, they seemed more interested in toying with him. Was this their  sadistic form of revenge? Did they want payback on Elsword for foiling so many of their plans?

 

It hardly mattered. Elsword couldn’t find a moment to get up, and he couldn’t hear or spot any of his own friends. He figured they were possibly in a similar predicament, only better planned ahead.

 

“Heh… way to go Elsword…” He told himself. “Aisha would yell at you for sure if she saw you right now.”

 

While he didn’t fancy her yelling, but he would certainly not object towards getting her help. He was being kicked around so wildly that he wasn’t even sure if his body would be able to hold up until the demons got bored and decided to kill him off.

 

He just needed a small opening. That was all he needed, and maybe he could start a counter. But not like this. There were just too many.

 

He felt himself calling for help. He wasn’t sure who he was calling for, but he knew he needed help. Some part of him knew that if he called for help, it would arrive. “Please…” he thought to himself, “Please… I just need a second…!”

 

He missed the entire impact of the moment, but he suddenly heard a large cracking sound and the demons yelled shortly afterwards. It was a loud sound, but it stopped quickly and faded into silence. Elsword stayed on the ground for a moment and regained his composure. He sat up and looked around. All of the demons that were once kicking him around like a ball were now gone. Not even a trail of blood could be found.

 

“W-What?” Elsword looked around, “Where did they go?”

 

“I’m amazed you still request my help.”a voice echoed from behind Elsword.

 

Elsword quickly turned around and watched a figure land on the ground slowly. It seemed like a human but their body was … what was their body doing? Was is infected? Covered? Elsword had never seen anything like it before. And yet, he could recognize the face instantly.

 

“A-Ain!” Elsword yelled out in shock. “Ain! Where have you--?!” Elsword stood up in shock.

 

He had lost track of Ain back within Feita during the attack there. He felt terrible for days. Ain had just vanished so suddenly without a word that Elsword was left to wonder if the worst had happened to him. He had called out for him so many times and looked for him so much, but to no avail. He only had the haunting image of Ain plagued by his own doubts and anxiety to linger in his mind.

 

Until now…

 

“Ain…” Elsword walked up to Ain slowly and looked him over. He was certain that strange effect was now his actual body. He recalled Ain had adamantly covered himself up after a point. Elsword had asked if he had been injured, but Ain would just assure he was fine and could continue his mission.  He always did that when asked about it.

 

It hurt Elsword to reflect on. Ain in that troubled state where he shook so violently from his own fears and worried over everything. Elsword had tried to comfort him so many times, but it always drew in the same direction.

 

“Hey… Elsword…” Ain would trail off whatever subject Elsword had brought up, “Do you think the goddess hates me? Why hasn’t she said anything?”

 

Elsword was never sure how to answer that. Elsword himself could never hate Ain and he was sure Ishmael was the same way. “Maybe she’s just busy? I’d imagine there’s a lot of work.”

 

“Work… Mission…” Ain would repeat quietly, “Right… right, she just wants me to stay focused on my mission.”

 

Elsword always got the impression that his words never helped too much. He would just stay with Ain as he muttered things to himself quietly.

 

But never did Elsword imagine it would go this far. His body was mostly entirely “gone”. It held its form, but the appearance was entirely unnatural. Ain’s eyes were mostly hidden by his hair now, but Elsword could catch the slightest glimpse of them. The life that Ain had held in them when he had first met everyone was completely erased. “Ain…” Elsword repeated himself, “What… happened?”

 

“Does it bother you?” Ain asked calmly. It was rather too calm. His tone barely cared any true concern for an answer or not, as if he was just asking that out of formality. “I’ve grown accustomed to it.”

 

“W-Well…” Elsword wasn’t going to debate if Ain liked it or not, “It certainly… looks different.” He phrased it, “But… what happened, Ain? What…?” Elsword had so many questions towards Ain. Where did he go? What happened? Why was he avoiding him?

 

He took a breath. Asking him on what happened might come off as rude, but maybe he could get some answers if he knew where he went. “Ain… where did you go?” Elsword asked firmly with emotion, “I…I looked around Feita for you. For days! I thought… I thought…” Elsword’s eyes began to water up as he recollected the emotions he felt looking for Ain.

 

“…Did… my absence… worry you?” Ain asked in confusion.

 

“Of course it did!” Elsword yelled at, “You’re my friend! I couldn’t leave you out there! I didn’t want to leave you anywhere, but we had to move on and… and I hated it! I kept… I kept thinking what if you showed up again.” Elsword’s tears slowly began to roll down his face in frustration, “I even had mail sent over to see if anyone had seen you after we left!”

 

Ain stared at Elsword for a moment. His expression never changed from the blank dreary mood his eyes carried, but he clearly was thinking. “Right… Of course…I should apologize. You’re not the Ishmael. You’re… Elsword.”

 

“Ishmael?” Elsword blinked a few times. He knew he had questions about the goddess from before, but why would he say something like that?

 

“Yes…That one.” Ain started, “She just…left me.” he explained, “And I was caught up in it. I never thought about you…”

 

“That’s…!” Elsword still couldn’t read his expression, but his words gave it all away. He felt abandoned by the Goddess herself. “I’m sure she had reason, Ain! No one would leave a person like you!”

 

Ain was quiet for a bit before he slowly moved up and lifted Elsword’s face up to look at his own. “Elsword… You truly are something special. I wish everything that existed could be as wonderful as you are.”

 

“A-Ain?” Elsword asked quietly, not moving his body at all.

 

“Your logic is flawed by existing, but that’s okay.” Ain’s face began to show some strange twisted emotion.

 

Elsword didn’t enjoy watching Ain’s face at all, but he couldn’t take his eyes away from him. “Flawed by…existing?”

 

“It’s true. It’s absolutely true. You exist, so you find meaning in things like fighting and worrying. It’s within your very nature.”

 

Elsword jumped back slightly, freeing himself from Ain’s hand “Wh-What are you saying? There’s meaning in fighting because we’re helping others. There’s people out there who can’t fight. They’re close by!”

 

Ain shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. They’re going die anyway. Don’t you see?”

 

“No!” Elsword shouted, “That’s a terrible way of thinking! Ain! What happened?! You… You didn’t always think this way!”

 

Ain’s face went back to his usual expression from before, “You’re… right. I wasn’t. No, that’s not it. Maybe… Maybe I was like this from the start.” He looked at the state of his hand and moved it around. He still had control of his body, so it was still him. “I can’t say. I don’t remember anything before Ishmael.”

 

“Do you think she would want you to think like this?”

 

“It doesn’t matter what she thinks.” Ain sighed, “She certainly never paid mind to what I thought. She played me like a fool. Giving me a job that no human could complete, only for me to be discarded as soon as she deemed me not being good enough.”

 

“Ain…” Elsword whined a bit in pain for his friend, “Ain… I… I don’t think she would do that on purpose!”

 

“I thought so as well.” Ain said, “Did you know? Back then… your words really comforted me. It gave me something to hold on to when Ishmael stayed quiet. I believed in that logic because I believed in you.” Ain walked up closed to Elsword again, “But I no longer believe in that. If Ishmael is to use me like a tool for her to dispose, what is to say she is not doing the same for humans? For the El? For anything?” He placed both hands on Elsword’s shoulders firmly, “This is what I learned, Elsword. Just because Ishmael wants it doesn’t make it important. Just because something is around today doesn’t make it important. It will be gone tomorrow anyway.” He smiled with lifeless eyes, “And return to the state of nothing it existed in before it was ever born.”

 

Elsword wasn’t sure what to feel. His emotions were clashed. He was still Ain’s friend, but this logic… This idea… It was wrong. There was no way this was right. “B-But Ain!” Elsword begged, hoping to reach Ain’s humanity. “That’s wrong! You can’t just stop fighting because you’re going to die anyway! You can’t stop fighting because others are going to die either! They deserve to live a full life! They deserve a happy life!”

 

Ain chuckled, “I knew you would say that. It’s your existence. Beings that exist like you wouldn’t understand how meaningless these struggles are. All the pain you put yourself through. All the grief. All the stress. For what?  A few extra minutes of life? What will you do when you can fight no longer? You can’t escape these things Elsword.”

 

It hurt. It hurt him so much. Elsword hated hearing these things in Ain’s voice. This… this wasn’t him right? This had to be some kind of trick, right? Ain was… Ain had… gone missing. Elsword’s eyes began to water over again. He didn’t want to accept this. He hated this. He wanted to be happy that Ain was alive, but he hated what Ain was saying.

 

Ain took his hand and rubbed Elsword tears away gently, “Crying over things… is meaningless.”

 

Elsword leaned in and wrapped his arms around Ain while covering his face on his chest. He didn’t like this. He didn’t like this at all. He wanted to see Ain again, but not like this. He felt like a failure.

 

“Humans are… adorable.” Ain thought quietly to himself. It was a strange thought, even for himself. Up until now, humans had always been selfish, feeble, meek and idiotic. But since casting aside everything about himself, Ain had found something new. A strange charm in humans.

 

It was … adorable how humans clung on to their life, no matter how petty it seemed. It was cute how they would struggle through so much to still all die at the end. It was beautiful to see their limits be tested over things that simply didn’t matter.

 

Elsword finally lifted his head up and looked at Ain. “You… really are Ain… aren’t you?” he said defeated.

 

Ain smiled at Elsword. It was painful to Elsword because that smile looked just like the one Ain had shown way back when. A smile that Ain himself had forgotten about, “Of course I am.”

 

Ain ran his hand down Elsword’s face one final time, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. I wouldn’t think of it.”

 

“Th-then what will you do?” Elsword asked, finally taking Ain’s hand into his own.

 

“I have no purpose to intervene with human affairs but… I would still like to help you, Elsword. It doesn’t matter what… As something that remembered me and helped me when I chose to ‘exist’… I want to help you while you exist.”

 

“Help me?” Elsword looked down, “Is that…alright? I mean my goal is still…”

 

“The goal has no meaning to me.” Ain explained, “Even if your goal were to change along the way, I will follow you. Existence means nothing to me, but I learned how much it means to someone like you. I want you to live your whole existence the way you want, free of all burdens from the world.” Ain trailed a finger over to Elsword’s hair, “And at the end of it all, I’ll wait for you. We can rest together in nothingness for eternity after that.”

 

Elsword felt chills run down his spine as Ain continued to talk. He clearly wanted to support Elsword and help him, but Ain’s tone felt off. Some of the things he said seemed odd. It just didn’t feel the same as it did before, and yet…

 

“Alright.” Elsword looked at the ground, accepting the hand of the Ain who saw no meaning in life itself anymore. “I’m just… glad you’re alive. Please don’t worry me like that again.”

 

“What a pointless request, but for you Elsword, I will do it.” Ain smiled, “You may call on me again when you need me. I can still hear your voice.”

 

“You’re not going to stay with us this time?” Elsword asked in shock.

 

“No. But I’ll still be watching. Staying with you can keep me from being …reckless.” Ain thought of carefully. It was true he found solitude in the absence of existence, but as long as Elsword was around, things could still exist a bit longer.

 

Elsword wanted an answer on what that could mean himself, but for now he would just take it as it was. This truth was too much for now, and to keep going would surely exhaust him to the limit. Speaking of exhausting though…

 

“What… happened to all the demons that were here anyway?” Elsword looked around.

 

“Oh...” Ain looked up, “I probably came in too strong when I heard your cries for help. I eliminated any within a half mile radius. I also can still freeze time to not intervene with anything, although it serves no purpose now.”

 

“….That strong of an entrance?” Elsword was in shock. He knew Ain was strong before, but this… this was a whole new level of strong for him. Elsword had so much to learn still. He was suddenly glad Ain had agreed to help him. He felt pain looking at Ain’s condition, but as long as Ain found his own type of peace with the situation… As long as Elsword did the right thing, things should be fine. “Thank you, Ain.”

 

Ain floated and began to make his exit while looking at Elsword, “It was… nothing.”


End file.
